Match Your Food Truck Menu to Your Overall Concept

You need to create a menu for your food truck business that matches the concept and the atmosphere you want your customers to experience. Without taking this step, you may start adding menu items that confuse your customers, so answer these questions first:

Will your truck sell ethnic cuisine? If so, make sure all the items on your menu represent the culture or country you’re showcasing. For example, if you plan on a Mediterranean concept, be prepared to serve Greek or Middle Eastern dishes.

You can also fuse two cultures together as long as one of the cultures is the basis of your concept, such as fusing Mexican food and Korean food like Kogi BBQ did with their famous Korean BBQ tacos.

What menu items do you potentially have in common with competitors? If you’re in an area that already has food trucks with the concept you plan to use, look at their menus and create items that may be similar, but put your own twist on them.

Changing ingredients and flavor profiles can create differences that get customers to come to you, even though the menu items may seem similar to other trucks. For example, your menu may include a hamburger with hand-cut French fries, while your main competitor offers a plain burger with boring old frozen fries.

What are your hours of operation? If your truck is going to be serving a breakfast crowd, your customers will expect to see breakfast items. On the other hand, if you’ll be serving a lunch or dinner crowd, you probably shouldn’t include an omelet on your menu, unless your concept is breakfast for dinner.